My family has traveled to 33 states, but none has wowed us as much as this coastal gem — and, no, it's not Hawaii

• My wife, four kids, and I have been to 33 states together including Hawaii, California, and Maine.
• Still, Oregon is our favorite state we've visited, and we recently spent eight days exploring it.
• Oregon is filled with natural beauty, family-friendly activities, and great, uncrowded beaches.

My wife and I have four young children who have traveled with us all over the country.

To date, we've been to 33 states including famously scenic ones like Hawaii, Maine, California, and Montana — and we've found many things to love about each one. But we've never discovered a state that wowed us like Oregon did during a recent eight-day road trip.

Across its sprawling coastline, pristine state parks, and eclectic cities, we found so much to love about the Beaver State — and so many reasons to want to return.

We appreciated the picturesque beaches and were happy to find them uncrowded

We went to Oregon near the end of the state's peak summer season. Even so, the state had some of the most uncrowded beaches we've ever visited.

I suspect the sparse crowds are because there are just so many beaches to choose from — the state has over 250 miles of them along its coastline, and each is seemingly more picturesque than the last.

We explored 10 of them in all, including Seaside, Yachats, Agate, and Cannon, and only found a crowd at the last one.

Our favorite was "Secret Beach" along the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. It's a short hike down to a little waterfall that feeds right into the sea and has a sea cave, tidepools, and the softest sand

There was so much to do in each city we explored in Oregon

Though we spent the majority of our time at beaches and state parks, we also explored five of Oregon's cities.

Each felt clean and had much to offer. Historic Baker City has a great museum that showcases the city's connection to the California Gold Rush and highlights important local contributions made by early Chinese immigrants.

In Portland, we loved biking along the Willamette River, exploring the world's largest independent bookstore, and visiting the Guinness Book of World Records' smallest park.

We saw the best view of our trip from the back of Portland's Pittock Mansion. The French Renaissance-style chateau wows, but the view of the city's skyline with Mount Hood off in the distance was even better.

In Seaside, we shopped on the boardwalk and visited nearby Fort Clatsop where famous explorers Lewis and Clark once stayed. We also visited the state's capitol in Salem and rode a waterfront trolley in Astoria.

We also loved the eclectic, spacious, and luxurious hotels the state has to offer

One of our favorite parts of a road trip is discovering unusual and exciting places to sleep each night.

We stayed at six different hotels in Oregon, but the most memorable were The Nines in Portland, the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria, and the Geiser Grand in Baker City.

The Geiser Grand is a true destination hotel. It's more than a century old, is reported to be haunted, and has undergone one of the most stunning and detailed renovations I've ever seen.

Our splurge of the trip was a stay at the luxurious Nines Hotel. It occupies the top half of the historic Meier & Frank building and features spacious rooms with incredible views of downtown Portland. It's also home to Urban Farmer Steakhouse, where our family enjoyed the best meal of our vacation.

The Cannery Pier Hotel is built on old pier pilings and extends about 600 feet over the Columbia River. From our room, we could watch ships slowly pass beneath the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

We learned a lot about history, cheese, and movies during our trip

Throughout our trip, we learned about local history and landmarks related to Native American tribes in the area and Lewis and Clark's famed journey through the state.

We also visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory headquarters and creamery, where I enjoyed the best grilled-cheese sandwich of my life.

Oregon also has a lot of ties to big-name films that we could explore.

We loved seeing the school where Arnold Schwarzenegger went undercover in "Kindergarten Cop," the harbor where Jack Nicholson commandeers a fishing vessel in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the breakwater the killer whale escaped over in "Free Willy," and the location of the opening jail breakout and car chase from "The Goonies."

Oregon is filled with natural beauty beyond beaches, too

We've been to dozens of state and national parks across the country, but Oregon offered some of the most unforgettable ones yet.

The Trail of Ten Falls at Silver Falls State Park was our favorite because its 7-mile loop took us to or behind 10 beautiful falls.

We also loved seeing multiple waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, including Horsetail Falls, Latourell Falls, and the breathtaking Multnomah Falls — the tallest in the state.

As much as we loved each waterfall we visited, Crater Lake National Park was easily our best find of the trip. It's considered to have one of the deepest, clearest lakes in the United States.

Its blue water was stunning to behold from the rim and even more thrilling to plunge into from the Cleetwood Cove trailhead.

All six of us enjoyed swimming in the cool water together before hiking back up to refuel our bodies with vegetable lasagna, bison stew, and seared salmon at the Crater Lake Lodge.

With all that said, our family is already planning another visit to Oregon next year.